OpenAI is sending the message that artificial intelligence is coming to make jobs, not take jobs. The company is developing the OpenAI Jobs Platform and a complementary OpenAI Certification program, and says it will certify 10 million Americans by 2030 working with launch partners including Walmart. The move comes as OpenAI is amping up its commercial endeavors. Although observers are positioning the career-focused effort as a potential rival to LinkedIn, owned by OpenAI investor Microsoft, the new contender will have a much narrower focus. It is expected to go live in mid-2026.

“The jobs platform won’t just be a way for big companies to attract more talent, it will have a track dedicated to helping local businesses compete and local governments find the AI talent they need to better serve their constituents,” OpenAI’s CEO of Applications Fidji Simo announced in a news post.

Simo admits AI will be disruptive, acknowledging that OpenAI “can’t eliminate that disruption, but what we can do is help more people become fluent in AI and connect them with companies that need their skills” using AI to find matches.

The certifications will range “from the basics of using AI at work all the way up to AI-custom jobs and prompt engineering,” Simo writes. Earlier this year the company launched the OpenAI Academy, “a free, online learning platform that has helped connect more than 2 million people with the resources, workshops, and communities they need to master AI tools,” she added.

Bloomberg reports that “OpenAI is working closely with Walmart to develop the certification program,” adding that “certifications will be available for free to Walmart’s roughly 1.6 million store and corporate employees in the U.S. and vary by roles, but may come with a fee for other companies in the future.”

The certification program “will utilize ChatGPT’s Study mode,” writes CNBC, adding that the feature “turns the chatbot into a teacher that questions, hints and provides feedback, instead of giving direct answers.”

Simo’s post arrived on the eve of a September 5 tech dinner hosted by the Trump administration for Silicon Valley’s elite, and  says OpenAI is “launching these new initiatives as part of our commitment to the White House’s efforts toward expanding AI literacy.”

The company “has been strengthening ties with Washington,” CNBC points out, citing a new project called OpenAI for Government that launched on June 16, “the same day it was awarded a contract of up to $200 million by the U.S. Department of Defense.”